


Breathing is an Automatic Function

by FZZT



Category: Nothing Much to Do
Genre: M/M, like look at the title - that is a title that contains CHEESE, so much cheese
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-20
Updated: 2014-12-20
Packaged: 2018-03-02 10:16:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2808785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FZZT/pseuds/FZZT
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"The entire gang was aw-ing, and quite frankly Balthazar wished they would stop. Yes, Pedro falling asleep on his shoulder on the train was funny, and yes, it probably looked hilariously cute, but they kept staring with these horrendous smiles on their faces, it was extremely disconcerting."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breathing is an Automatic Function

The entire gang was aw-ing, and quite frankly Balthazar wished they would stop. Yes, Pedro falling asleep on his shoulder on the train was funny, and yes, it probably looked hilariously cute, but they kept staring with these horrendous _smiles_ on their faces, it was extremely disconcerting.

Oh god Bea was taking pictures, this had to stop immediately.

“Guys can you not?” he asked, attempting to sound pissed off, but hitting vaguely exasperated.

“But can we please? Just one? I swear we’ll only bring it up every day for the rest of forever!” Bea grinned, oh-so-clearly going ahead and taking several pictures, despite what he said.

He sighed looking down at Pedro’s sleeping head. There was no way that could be comfortable. He was by far the taller of the two, he had to practically fold his body in on itself to rest his head on Balthazar’s shoulder.

He didn’t notice Ursula making eyes at the rest of the gang.

“Hey does anyone feel like food?” she said. He certainly noticed her tone, however. He knew what she was up to.

“Yeah actually,” Beatrice said, “I’ve suddenly become quite hungry. Come on let’s go and get something to eat.”

They all stood up, not even trying to hide their smirks.

“Do you want anything?” Ben asked him, completely failing at keeping the amusement from his voice.

Balthazar just sighed, pouring every ounce of sarcasm he could muster into his reply. “No I’m good man, thanks so much for asking”.

“We have your best interests at heart,” Ursula said as they filed past him to the food car. Somehow he didn’t think she was talking about the food.

That left him alone with a snoring Pedro. Not that he was actually snoring though, thank god. Balthazar kept coming back to how dreadfully uncomfortable Pedro looked. He was going to wake up feeling like absolute shit if he stayed like that. Should Balthazar move him? Or more importantly, _could_ he move him? Strumming a guitar didn’t quite give you the muscle mass of the football captain, try as he might to ignore it, because that got more than a bit distracting sometimes. The staring was actually how Ursula had initially figured out that he liked Pedro a while back. He silently cursed tight black t-shirts and the light they shed on shoulder to waist ratios. He then immediately retracted his curse and turned it into a thank you, because who was he kidding really?

He decided to give the move a shot. What was the worst that could happen anyway? Pedro woke up? Oh no, the horror! He eased his arm behind Pedro’s back, both wincing and taking secret delight in the intimacy of the whole ordeal. Not that it was initially intimate, but once the thought crossed his mind he found himself unable to consider it any other way. But he kept going. With a hand on either side of the still-sleeping Pedro – one on his chest, one on his back – he eased him up off his shoulder. It was going a lot better than he had originally thought it would if he was being honest with himself. He hoisted him up to a sitting position, and then his own arms buckled under the weight of the unconscious body and Pedro fell back down onto him. Balthazar screwed his eyes shut as it happened, already anticipating having to explain that he thought Pedro looked uncomfortable, so instead of waking him up like a normal human being, he decided to grope his unconscious body into sitting up, but failed to take into account that skinny musicians were not meant to hold up soccer players. That would go down a treat he was sure.

After a few moments without movement, he opened his eyes tentatively. Amazingly, Pedro was still asleep.    

He assessed his options.

On the downside, he was basically trapped under Pedro. Balthazar’s head was on Pedro’s chest-shoulder region, and his arms were essentially in the classic ‘damsel in distress’ position around Pedro’s neck. Pedro’s arm was around Balthazar’s shoulders, and his head was resting on top of Balthazar’s. There was no possible way they could look more like a couple if they tried.

On the upside, however, he was cuddling Pedro, so that was something off the bucket list. And the wish list, and the to-do list, but that was irrelevant. He didn’t really know what to do now that he was here though. Usually when he imagined this, both of them were awake and aware of what was going on. However, he didn’t really know how he was going to get out of this position, so he was stuck. He could wake Pedro up, but that was a last resort option; it was awkward enough before, but now it was something he needed time to prepare an explanation for. He’d give it ten minutes, he decided, before biting the bullet and waking Pedro up. That was the maximum time he’d allow himself, because after that the others might come back, and if they thought Pedro on his shoulder was cute, there was no way he was letting them see this.

*

Ten minutes later there was absolutely no change in his situation. He was both relaxed and panicked, and he blamed it entirely on Pedro for smelling so good. Quite frankly that should be illegal. God he loved it.

He was getting increasingly paranoid about the others coming back though, so he mustered up his courage (and a larger portion of his strength than he was willing to admit) to give Pedro a shake.

He shook again, a little harder this time, and only succeeded in moving Pedro so that his face was literally resting on Balthazar’s face.

Finally, with his next shove, Pedro’s eyes flickered open.

Balthazar wasn’t entirely prepared for Pedro’s sleepy face to be inches away from his. He looked a little dopey, which was adorable of course, a fact that Balthazar both hated and loved because it made friendship all the more difficult.

He watched as Pedro came back to the land of the living, and his eyes focused on Balthazar’s. More specifically, his eyes – already a mere two inches away – focused on Balthazar and then started getting closer.

“Morning Balthy,” Pedro whispered, planting a kiss on Balthazar’s very surprised lips.

Wait, what? Balthazar’s brain came to a complete stop, and he was fully aware that he must look like a deer caught in headlights, but Pedro had just kissed him, and he wasn’t sure if he could devote enough brainpower to change his expression if he tried. He was just glad breathing was an automatic function.

He stared at Pedro, wondering what the hell had come over him. Balthazar had been envisioning that moment since year nine, but in none of his daydreams had Pedro just randomly decided to kiss him. It was nice, but definitely unexpected.

“Em Pedro, what was that?” he asked when he finally regained his powers of speech. His voice was at least an octave higher than usual.

The look of dawning realisation on Pedro’s face was a picture, and a gut-punching one at that. His expression went from his initial smile, to realisation, to pure panic in all of two seconds, causing Balthazar’s stomach to drop ten levels. Of course Pedro hadn’t meant it; he probably thought Balthazar was Bea or something.

“Shiiiiiiit Balthy I am so sorry,” Pedro whispered, the regret evident in his voice. Not that Balthazar had been expecting him to wake up and declare his undying love, but Pedro had kissed him for god’s sake, surely he was allowed a little hope? What hope there had been was now extinguished though.

“Nah man, it’s okay, these things happen” he said, trying to sound nonchalant. _These things happen_ , who the hell was he fooling with that? Was that even a thing? _Oh yeah you kissed me, but don’t worry I completely get that it was an accident._ God he sounded bitter, even to himself. Hopefully that hadn’t come through in his words.

“It’s just I was dreaming, and you were there, and then I woke up and you were there, and I didn’t get that it wasn’t the dream anymore so I kissed you…” he trailed off, looking even more panicked than before, which Balthazar hadn’t thought was possible.

He was feeling more than a bit panicked himself if he was being honest. His chest was starting to swell with more of that stupid hope, and he hated it, because he’d been here so many times before, and he always ended up crushed. But he couldn’t help it. It wasn’t even Pedro’s fault, he was clearly oblivious to how Balthazar felt about him, he just continued existing like the stupidly loveable person he was, and Balthazar continued to like him, because apparently that was wired into him, and it was the literal worst. The hope was always there though, and at that particular moment it was growing exponentially as he absorbed Pedro’s words.

“What…” he said, without thinking about how the sentence was going to end, or the consequences of it. “What was happening in your dream that made you kiss me though?”

There. It was said and it couldn’t be unsaid, and it meant that Balthazar wasn’t glossing over what had just happened. It was terrifying, but the raw hope was still growing inside of him and he couldn’t help but need Pedro’s answer.

Pedro, however, was taking his time. He ran his finger through his hair, stared at his hands, and then ran them through his hair again, all the while avoiding Balthazar’s eyes. Eventually he looked up, and the sheer desperation on his face made something inside of Balthazar break.

The trouble was, he didn’t know how to fix it.

“Fuck it,” Pedro muttered, taking a deep breath. “It was a dream, and you were there and we were just talking, like we do, like everybody does, and then we were talking differently, more like flirting, but it just seemed really natural, and you were doing things with your eyebrows, you stupid fucking eyebrows, and then we were…” his voice trailed off.

Balthazar realised he was holding his breath. So much for breathing being automatic.

“And then we were what?” he whispered, not sure if he wanted an answer.

“And then we were kissing, and it was brilliant, and then I woke up, and you were there. I knew I was awake, I lied before, but you were there, like _right there_ , and I kissed you because I needed to, and I wanted to, and I wasn’t thinking. I’m sorry if this messes anything up, I just need it out there!” He threw his head down into his hands on his lap.

“Pedro”.

Pedro took another deep breath before looking up, clearly expecting the worst.

“You didn’t mess up anything”.

Balthazar put his hands on Pedro’s shoulders, and drew him in for another kiss. Pedro was still, scarily still for a second and panic rose like a tidal wave within Balthazar. Had he misinterpreted what Pedro was getting at? He didn’t think so, it was pretty black and white, but what if Pedro didn’t want this? What if he wanted to just ignore everything? It would be a massively stupid move to make, but he had a fair bit of experience with stupidity, so Balthazar wouldn’t put it past him.

But then Pedro responded with gusto, and his worries evaporated.

It was Pedro who pulled away after a couple of seconds - or an eternity – Balthazar wasn’t entirely sure. His face was red, and he had a tentative smile on his face.

“Does this mean that you? That I? That _we_?” Balthazar had a feeling that was as eloquent as Pedro was going to get after what had happened.

He nodded. “We. I like the sound of that”.

Pedro blushed, and it was one of the most adorable things Balthazar had ever seen. “I do too” he whispered, as if he couldn’t believe what they were saying.

“How long have you?” Pedro gestured between them.

“Oh, about fifteen minutes, so they should be back very soon, unfortunately,” Balthazar replied, completely misinterpreting the question.

“No, I mean how long have you felt like…” he gestured between then, clearly unsure how to phrase it.

“Oh,” Balthazar said, eventually copping on to what Pedro was asking, “since like year nine”.

Pedro whistled, and Balthazar laughed.

“You?”

“Almost as long actually. Wait, how long did you say before the others come back?” Pedro face turned to panic as he realised that their current alone time had an expiry date.

“Very little,” Balthazar said with a sigh, which quickly turned into a smirk. “We had better make the most of it then, hadn’t we?”

Pedro grinned at him, shifting slightly so their faces were level. He pulled Balthazar’s legs over his so Balthazar was lounging back against the window of the train, Pedro’s hand between him and the cold surface.

“That alright?” he asked. He sounded, not doubtful exactly, but like he was afraid to break this new thing they had.

Balthazar wasn’t about to let that happen.

“This is perfect dude, but can we make out already? I really want to, but if they come back they’re going to ‘aw’ again, so I’d really like to get the most out of this”.

Pedro leant in again, smiling this time. “Your wish is my command” he said, bringing their lips together.

Balthazar couldn’t help it, he burst out laughing.

“No, no!” he exclaimed through his giggles as Pedro went to pull away looking affronted. “That was just so goddamn cheesy and I wasn’t expecting it, I’m sorry, I just…” his giggles overwhelmed him, rendering him speechless.

Pedro stared at him for a moment before bursting out laughing as well.

“Oh my god I can’t believe I said that,” he said eventually, once the laughter died down.

“Me neither”.

“Can we have a do-over so I can be less cheesy?” he asked.

“Nah man, just shut up and kiss me”.

This time Pedro kept his mouth shut. Well, not exactly, but the talking definitely stopped…

**Author's Note:**

> I know I should update Team of Two but I found this last night and decided it was far too shmoopy not to share. This was written in the direct aftermath of the wonder that is "one foot on sea one on shore one in the boiling hot lava", and has been sitting on my hard-drive ever since.  
> I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
